City College Norwich doing A Christmas Carol in reverse by abandoning living wage, warns UNISON
City College Norwich is doing a Christmas Carol in reverse, UNISON says today after bosses said they would abandon their commitment to the real living wage.
As recently as September the college helped launch the Making Norwich A Living Wage City Action Group, an alliance of public and private sector employers aiming to treble the number of local Living Wage employers to 150 by 2025.
But in pre-Christmas negotiations, bosses said they could no longer afford to its commitment to the real living wage, a move UNISON warns would condemn staff to poverty.
Its offer for this year — at least 2.5% with more for some groups of workers — means the lowest-paid workers would still receive the £10.90 an hour living wage, but the college claims central government’s underfunding of further education means it cannot commit to the payments in future.
All three staff unions have rejected the offer and are pushing for a rise that allows staff to cope with the rising cost of living.
UNISON Norfolk County branch secretary Jonathan Dunning said: “Scrooge went from a harsh boss paying poverty wages to an enlightened employer ahead of Christmas. City College is doing the whole thing in reverse.
“Just a few weeks ago, the college helped launch the council’s campaign to become a living wage city, pledging to convince other local employers to get accreditation.
“Now, the college is telling its own staff they won’t have enough pay to live on in the future.
“While we understand the financial pressures further education is going through, no employer should be pushing its workers into poverty. It shouldn’t take spectral intervention to reverse this decision: the college must change its mind.”
